Wondering and random thoughts from my daily meditations and from life.

Posts tagged ‘Buddist’

This month has been a doozy! My writing and posting for Fashion Maniac has increased, I have been helping my wife doing marketing with her Independent Jamberry business, doing several commissioned art pieces, PLUS most important of all our grand-daughter turned one July 19th!!

As much as this all has been going on, we seem to be spinning our wheels at the same time. My wife runs her start-up business, and I am working as a freelance artist/writer, neither get rich careers. In truth neither make enough to pay bills and buy food. I happen to be working at my Dream careers ( businesses ) long enough that I make a bit more monthly then she does, so I have been able to keep the lights on, pay the rent with my disability and keep at least something in our bellies and our cats feed. But the bills are beginning to suffer. Because of this I have been taking some time to think about the lessons of Buddha and Life.

Buddha said; ” Life is suffering”. The quote did not necessarily mean actual pain – be it mental, physical, or emotional.

The quote was originally translated from the word Dukkha which could have been “translation” in three ways; Suffering, Change, and Conditioned State. So, we are all aware of what Suffering means be it Mental, Emotional, or Physical.

Change; can be not permanent, subject to change. Thus, happiness, sadness, madness, all emotions are life because they not permanent. It goes further; Great success, fairer, actual suffering, etc all fades with the passing of time, is Life. Even the purest state of bliss experienced in spiritual practice is Life.

All of this doesn’t mean that happiness, success and bliss are bad, or that it’s wrong to enjoy them. If you feel happy, then enjoy feeling happy. Just don’t cling to it. The same goes for those things that you feel so strongly for in a negative way. No job, struggling to pay bills, depression, unable to help your family, health issues, etc. Feel the emotion, but don’t cling to it, or the issue or it may engulf you.

With this in mind, I have been doing my best to meditate on letting go and having faith that things will working out as it should. I know that in the bible it states; “God helps those who help themselves!” <Hezekiah 6:1> So, I am not sitting back and hoping all will work out, but I am doing my best to let go of my own “suffering”, <worrying / anxieties/ stress> and consecrate on finding freelance work, contracts then letting the rest be at fate’s door. If you are a follower of the bible, however, one who is also a scholar like myself would have even a harder time to let go because the bible also states; ” The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow.” <Ecclesiastes 1:18>

What are your thoughts about this subject? Suffering? Does it mean true suffering or can it possibly mean change?